Florida School Boards Association
Florida’s first charter school opened 20 years ago. Since then, enrollment in these publicly funded, privately run schools has exploded. Today, more than 250,000 students attend about 650 charter schools across the state and many of them are returning to school this week. But the rapid growth has come with more than a few speed bumps. Read…
Capital outlay funding for Florida’s charter schools became one of the most charged debates in the 2016 legislative session, ultimately yielding new law on which schools qualify for the money. Read full article
Florida schools are preparing for next year’s rollout of one of the nation’s most unrestricted open-enrollment laws allowing students to more easily cross district lines to go to school—a practice that has grown slowly nationwide amid both statutory and practical hurdles. Nationwide, 23 states had some type of mandatory, interdistrict open-enrollment laws in 2015, prior…
An Escambia County grand jury indicted Newpoint Education Partners and three other companies for grand theft, money laundering and aggravated white collar crime. Newpoint managed charter schools in Escambia County for 21st Century Academy of Pensacola. Last year, the Escambia County SchoolBoard revoked charters for Newpoint Academy and Newpoint High for grade tampering and misuse of…
Five charter schools have filed a legal challenge against the Indian River County School Board, arguing that they are not getting a proper share of voter-approved tax dollars. Indian River Charter High School Inc., Imagine Schools at South Vero, North County Charter School Inc., Sebastian Charter Junior High Inc., and St. Peter’s Academy Inc., are…
Some South Florida charter schools have been known to vanish quickly, and so have their taxpayer-funded books, computers and furniture. School districts are required to inventory charter school property before and after a school closes. Districts can then use the returned property at other traditional or charter schools in the county. Read full article
SHADY HILLS — Classical Preparatory School, a charter school founded by the wife of incoming Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran, has its sights set on expansion. Opened in 2014, its waiting list is twice the size of its 406-student enrollment. And its contract lets it grow to nearly 1,000 students through 12th grade. To explore…
TALLAHASSEE — The Legislature sent a massive omnibus education bill to Gov. Rick Scott’s desk on Friday after spending the final hours of the 2016 legislative session negotiating privately and trading several amendments that were each more than a hundred pages long. The House voted 82-33 on Friday to pass a heavily amended HB 7029, a…
A wide-ranging education bill dealing with everything from funding for high-performing universities to high-school membership in athletic associations made it through the final day of the legislative session Friday, despite the long odds that such policy “trains” often face. But in the process, lawmakers cut a provision aimed at ensuring that taxpayer-provided construction dollars for…
Florida’s 650 charter schools and 3,600 traditional public schools would each get a pot of $75 million in state funds next year to spend on construction and maintenance projects, under a budget agreement the House and Senate appropriations chairmen announced Sunday afternoon. The figure — about the same as what Republican Gov. Rick Scott had asked for — is $25 million more…